When Barbie met Charlie

Last weekend we decided introduce Barbie to my friends' little Cavalier King Charles x Mini Dachshund, Charlie. Charlie has some other doggie friends, but expanding his social circle has to be good for him. Charlie has more of a Dachshund temperament and tends to boss other dogs around, I figured Barbie would just ignore him and sprint away if she had to. After all he is all bark and attitude and no bite.

 When I pulled up in the driveway I waited a little while Charlie was put into the yard so that Barbie could explore the house in peace initially. Barbie seemed really enamoured with the house as it is huge compared to ours and there are a lot of rooms to explore. Charlie barked at the back door when he saw another dog in his house, so we snuck outside through the laundry door. Charlie was so busy barking at the back door he didn't realise that Barbie had wandered up behind him!

 He spent a bit of time barking at her, and then rounding her up. When we went inside Charlie laid down on his favorite 'perch', which made him closer to Barbie's head height, whilst Barbie walked around for a while looking for somewhere to lie down. I thought she would enjoy the tiles as it was a warm day, but she didn't really settle until a blankie was provided for her Highness to rest upon. When Charlie got up, Barbie got up, and then Charlie rounded Barbie up. She had to be rescued when he trapped her in a corner. She had her head down and was showing all kinds of appeasement behaviours, and Charlie was satisfied with them it seems as he left her alone after a little while.

We went for a walk together to Charlie's local park. They were very civil walking together, giving each other a glance every now and then. We tried to take some photos just to emphasise the size difference. I think Barbie and Charlie will get along quite well once they are used to each other.  Overall we were quite pleased with how the introduction went.